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Dracopedia: A Guide to Drawing the Dragons of the World
This collection of 13 dragons is loaded with sketches, drawings, anatomical studies, detailed diagrams, brief natural histories and step-by-step colour art demonstrations for each animal showing the process of making dragon images from start to finish. A cross between an encyclopedia of dragons and an artist's reference book, readers will enjoy learning all about dragons and the process of their creation. Hardcover, 160 pages. By William O'Connor.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published August 27, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 16, 2018
I use this as reference/inspiration
December 24, 2011
Pretty awesome book; loved every single one of the illustrations. However, it doesn't teach you to draw dragons. As in, if you're expecting something "step 1: draw a circle" related, you're going to be disappointed. It's more catered towards digital painting, but even then it's not quite useful. The book mainly juat states things like "make a mask (photoshop term)" or "draw a sketch then scan." Just some bare, vague instructions. I do not recommend this book for beginners. I do, however, recommend it for people with a lot of photoshop or digital artwork experience. Since I'm one of the former, I found the book to be a great reference to go to when my hands itch to draw something dragon-related. Pencil style, of course.
So yeah, I liked it. I'm more a a self-learner (is that a word?) so the full muscle and bone diagrams were great references. Also, there's little "biographies" and "histories" for each dragon type, and those were a pretty entertaining read too. 4 stars!
So yeah, I liked it. I'm more a a self-learner (is that a word?) so the full muscle and bone diagrams were great references. Also, there's little "biographies" and "histories" for each dragon type, and those were a pretty entertaining read too. 4 stars!
October 3, 2011
I am a huge dragons fanatic, so i was searching for a book that would give me more information on how to create more believable dragons, so picked up this book. and its amazing.
BOOK REVIEW : http://www.artbycrunk.com/book-review/dracopedia/
BOOK REVIEW : http://www.artbycrunk.com/book-review/dracopedia/
October 1, 2024
Some nice if unoriginal dragon designs, and a solid introduction to using Photoshop as a painting tool that builds in complexity as each new dragon is introduced. The dragons are placed in the real world, which is occasionally fun, like the 'warning basilisk' road sign that looks like the 'deer crossing' one.
But the 'lore' part of the book is irritating - for Asian dragons, it's clear O'Connor didn't even both to spend five minutes on Wikipedia ('In China, the storm dragon is believed to bring prosperity and good luck because their presence frightens off other large predators such as wolves and wyverns.'.) Putting them in the real world also means coming up with a justification for things like the basilisk's petrifying stare (it squirts neurotoxins from its eyes). Oh and fire salamanders he puts as a species of basilisk. Why would you want to reduce things and make escapism less magical?
I think real world dragons could be a fun idea, even the neurotoxins, but it would need more time and effort than this.
But the 'lore' part of the book is irritating - for Asian dragons, it's clear O'Connor didn't even both to spend five minutes on Wikipedia ('In China, the storm dragon is believed to bring prosperity and good luck because their presence frightens off other large predators such as wolves and wyverns.'.) Putting them in the real world also means coming up with a justification for things like the basilisk's petrifying stare (it squirts neurotoxins from its eyes). Oh and fire salamanders he puts as a species of basilisk. Why would you want to reduce things and make escapism less magical?
I think real world dragons could be a fun idea, even the neurotoxins, but it would need more time and effort than this.
September 14, 2019
My vested interest in creating my own kind of dragon led me to borrow this book from my not-so-local library. While hasn't exactly provided me with anything I haven't already gleamed from other sources, I love the presentation of the book and the art direction is fairly stellar.
It's clear, however, that this is a book for advanced artists as it rather shows the sketching process in the middle of the creation process once the foundation has been built. Not exactly a drawback, but kind've disappointing nonetheless. If you're a fan of dragon mythology, or artbook dedicated to dragons, I'd definitely give this a look.
It's clear, however, that this is a book for advanced artists as it rather shows the sketching process in the middle of the creation process once the foundation has been built. Not exactly a drawback, but kind've disappointing nonetheless. If you're a fan of dragon mythology, or artbook dedicated to dragons, I'd definitely give this a look.
March 8, 2019
Excelente calidad de ilustraciones. El hecho de que ponga en contexto real a los dragones (lugares donde viven, y como son vistos desde un punto de vista "histórico") le da un plus. Excelente ilustrador trstemente ya fallecido.
October 19, 2020
Lovely illustrations
September 23, 2021
A cute little art book, but poorly edited and the guides are extremely sparse: beneficial only to people who already know how to draw the subject matter.
June 29, 2022
Fantastic art, and it's great as a reference(I'm using it for clay sculpts)
Read
November 21, 2022Helped with my art a ton
October 19, 2025
The drawing of the golden amphiptere altered my brain chemistry.
June 26, 2014
William O'Connor has done some studying and then reshaped it to make his own dragons. You'll go through thirteen different types of dragons in this 160 page book: Amphiptere, Arctic Dragon, Asian Dragon, Basilisk, Coatyl, Dragon, Dragonette, Drake, Feydragon, Hydra, Sea Orc, Wyrm, and Wyvern.
Just take note that if you're pretty particular with what certain dragons/creatures should be, you might not like this book. (Example: Cerberus is rewritten to be a three headed dragon instead of a three headed dog in the Hydra section, spelled like Cerebrus. Also, if you're looking for a Basilisk that looks more like a snake, it's instead taken to look like an eight-legged lizard.) Honestly, this doesn't bother me at all, but I'm throwing out a warning for anyone who is quite particular.
William O'Connor wrote this as if Dragons still existed in this day in and age (the drake could be the replacement for dogs and horses while the Feydragons the replacement for birds). I really like that aspect and I think most readers will enjoy this. Not to mention his artwork is beautiful.
Mind you this isn't for a beginning artist, though something you could add to your collection of goals because the artwork itself makes it worth it. In fact, I'm planning on buying his Dracopedia the Bestiary. I almost bought at the same time as this, but I felt I was past my spending budget that day. Now I wish I'd just bought it because it will be a while before I head back to that bookstore again (long drive).
Anyways, I may be biased in my opinion because I've completely fallen in love with the Arctic Dragon, and I'm a fan of anyone who drops Falkor the Luck Dragon's name in a book (under the Arctic Dragon mind you which may be why I like it because it has some similar features such as a long body).
Though I quite enjoy this book for its art, I did skip over photoshop parts. I had photoshop at one point, but after my last computer crashed, I realized I didn't use it enough to actually put out the extra money for it. I'll stick with my good old sketchbook and pencils for a while. When I get much better, perhaps I'll revisit photoshop for coloring my artwork, but I'm thinking of trying out pastels.
All in all, this book is interesting and beautiful. It shows you what you can make possible by doing research into the past and making it your own. I will help you develop your own characters and creatures and that's just worth it in and of itself. It will also teach you how to develop different body types for different environments or dragon types to best suit it. Just reading those parts can help you begin your artist background, but something more simple should be used with it.
Just take note that if you're pretty particular with what certain dragons/creatures should be, you might not like this book. (Example: Cerberus is rewritten to be a three headed dragon instead of a three headed dog in the Hydra section, spelled like Cerebrus. Also, if you're looking for a Basilisk that looks more like a snake, it's instead taken to look like an eight-legged lizard.) Honestly, this doesn't bother me at all, but I'm throwing out a warning for anyone who is quite particular.
William O'Connor wrote this as if Dragons still existed in this day in and age (the drake could be the replacement for dogs and horses while the Feydragons the replacement for birds). I really like that aspect and I think most readers will enjoy this. Not to mention his artwork is beautiful.
Mind you this isn't for a beginning artist, though something you could add to your collection of goals because the artwork itself makes it worth it. In fact, I'm planning on buying his Dracopedia the Bestiary. I almost bought at the same time as this, but I felt I was past my spending budget that day. Now I wish I'd just bought it because it will be a while before I head back to that bookstore again (long drive).
Anyways, I may be biased in my opinion because I've completely fallen in love with the Arctic Dragon, and I'm a fan of anyone who drops Falkor the Luck Dragon's name in a book (under the Arctic Dragon mind you which may be why I like it because it has some similar features such as a long body).
Though I quite enjoy this book for its art, I did skip over photoshop parts. I had photoshop at one point, but after my last computer crashed, I realized I didn't use it enough to actually put out the extra money for it. I'll stick with my good old sketchbook and pencils for a while. When I get much better, perhaps I'll revisit photoshop for coloring my artwork, but I'm thinking of trying out pastels.
All in all, this book is interesting and beautiful. It shows you what you can make possible by doing research into the past and making it your own. I will help you develop your own characters and creatures and that's just worth it in and of itself. It will also teach you how to develop different body types for different environments or dragon types to best suit it. Just reading those parts can help you begin your artist background, but something more simple should be used with it.
February 27, 2017
Loved this book with all the different dragon classifications although I was a bit disappointed about the "guide to drawing dragons" bit because it barely teaches anything about drawing dragons.
February 22, 2017
loved It amazing Art
October 29, 2016
This is a really fun book that I've actually owned since highschool, but realized I never logged on here, haha.
This isn't so much focused on drawing as it is digital art. As a digital artist, I don't really mind that, but if you wanted this book solely to learn how to draw dragons and nothing else, um. Sorry.
Even if you don't want to learn about artsy stuff though, it's still a really good book. It's super fun to just flip through and look at all the different types of dragons he has categorized, and all the notes and random bits of invented history are really interesting. It's definitely more encyclopedia than how to art book. : )
This isn't so much focused on drawing as it is digital art. As a digital artist, I don't really mind that, but if you wanted this book solely to learn how to draw dragons and nothing else, um. Sorry.
Even if you don't want to learn about artsy stuff though, it's still a really good book. It's super fun to just flip through and look at all the different types of dragons he has categorized, and all the notes and random bits of invented history are really interesting. It's definitely more encyclopedia than how to art book. : )
August 8, 2015
I really like this book. It's great for artists with drawing experience, because it already assumes some base artistic knowledge. The step-by-step is in digital painting form, which is unusual in drawing books.
The best part of this book though, was that the book was written as if it were a field guide with actual history of "real" dragons. The author came up with reasons for why a Hydra has multiple heads, and the optimal climate for a Wyvern to live. In this way, this book is inspirational for all of your dragon drawing needs.
The best part of this book though, was that the book was written as if it were a field guide with actual history of "real" dragons. The author came up with reasons for why a Hydra has multiple heads, and the optimal climate for a Wyvern to live. In this way, this book is inspirational for all of your dragon drawing needs.
December 3, 2011
Got this book on a whim, as I love dragons I couldn't pass it up.
This book reminds me somewhat of the Dragonology series in that it tells us of the behaviors and environments of various dragons.
As an added bonus the author, who is also the illustrator, teaches us some tricks on how to draw like he does. There's also a fold out size chart of the many dragon species. All in all, a pretty cool book.
This book reminds me somewhat of the Dragonology series in that it tells us of the behaviors and environments of various dragons.
As an added bonus the author, who is also the illustrator, teaches us some tricks on how to draw like he does. There's also a fold out size chart of the many dragon species. All in all, a pretty cool book.
April 7, 2010
Found this book after watching "How To Train Your Dragon" (an entertaining movie, by the way). This book is funny and evoked a kind of inspiration that I dont get very often.
April 8, 2014
Cool
I love. it has many new things for serious drawers. buy it. I think that more serious drawers should buy. this you have a drawing carrier perhaps
I love. it has many new things for serious drawers. buy it. I think that more serious drawers should buy. this you have a drawing carrier perhaps
January 3, 2016
Beautiful
All of the illustrations in this book are beautifully designed and are incredibly detailed and thorough. I would recommend Dracopedia to any and all dragon enthusiasts.
All of the illustrations in this book are beautifully designed and are incredibly detailed and thorough. I would recommend Dracopedia to any and all dragon enthusiasts.
April 16, 2016
fabulous!!!!
January 24, 2017
Great concept book! it is more of digital drawing but still a great reference book to any artist
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews